re: Table Repair

Thanks, all.

To get back to round:

1) I turned it upside down, so any hole I had to make would be hidden by the pedestal;

2) I did the usual measuring in to find the common center.

3) Once happy with taking as little off as possible, I marked center with an awl.

4) I drilled a 1/4" deep hole the size of a nail or rivet.

5) I made a long circle cutting base for the router from some 1/4" Plexi I grabbed at a yardsale.

6) I installed the removable bed I built for my bandsaw, to support large circle cuts (e.g., 48" diameter), then set the circle cutting jig up at the radius point. I mounted the table top on the circle jig, pushed the jig into the blade and gave the top a spin.

7) I took the top back to the bench and installed router (plunge base) and base with the nail at center.

8) I took about 1/8" off in in about four passes (about 3/8" at a time) using a 1/2" shank spiral bit.

9) I used about a 3/8" round-over bit to get the original line back on the upper edge.

The bandsaw jig got the cut to where I needed to be, with sanding, but I figured the router would leave a better cut. Just a bit of the gouged edge was still showing when I was done, so, rather than reset the bandsaw and make an edge cut (with more likelihood of blade wander, I went to the router.

If the bit of rough had not been left, the bandsaw circle jig would have got me within about 1/16th of round.

I could have used a hand held jig saw to take off excess stock, roughing the circle in.

I could have taken excess off to near a line using the band saw, In this instance, that would have been hard, because of the weight of the top.

I could have skipped the saws all together, since I was using a plunge router and only taking off a bit at a time, but I don’t like hogging off large amounts of material with a router, even with a good bit.